Notorious Drug Lord’s Son Extradited to U.S. to Face Drug Trafficking Charges

Ovidio Guzman Lopez, the son of infamous drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, has been captured in Mexico and extradited to the United States to face drug trafficking charges, according to officials. The 33-year-old Guzman Lopez was charged in April as part of a crackdown on a global drug trafficking network controlled by Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

The charges allege that the cartel utilized precursor chemicals imported from China to fuel the fentanyl crisis that is plaguing the United States. Guzman Lopez, along with two dozen others, was flown to Chicago where he will face charges, but he also faces charges in New York and Washington, D.C.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland commended the law enforcement cooperation between the United States and Mexico that led to Guzman Lopez’s extradition. Calling it a significant step in the fight against the cartel, Garland emphasized the courage displayed by both American and Mexican law enforcement and military personnel in their pursuit of justice.

The Justice Department has pledged to hold those responsible for fueling the opioid epidemic accountable, as it continues to devastate communities across the country. Guzman Lopez had been wanted by U.S. authorities since 2019 and was captured by Mexican armed forces in January in a small town near Culiacán, the capital of the state of Sinaloa.

The arrest followed a highly publicized incident in 2019 when Guzman Lopez was briefly detained in Culiacán. The situation escalated when heavily armed gunmen flooded the city in response to his capture, resulting in intense shootouts between cartel members and Mexican armed forces. To prevent further bloodshed, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador ordered Guzman Lopez’s release.

Ovidio Guzman Lopez’s father, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, is currently serving a life sentence in the U.S. after being convicted in 2019. His charges included running a criminal enterprise involved in large-scale narcotics violations, murder conspiracies, drug trafficking, unlawful use of firearms, and money laundering.

In a related development, Guzman’s wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, was recently released from a halfway house in California. She had been convicted of aiding the Mexican drug cartel led by her husband and sentenced to 36 months in federal prison. Aispuro pleaded guilty to money laundering and conspiracy charges related to the distribution of cocaine, meth, heroin, and marijuana into the United States. She was also fined nearly $1.5 million.

ENND